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hilarious cold war satire
by HeatherM (movies profile)
Mar 19, 2007
4
of
5 people found this review helpful
If there is one film that defines black comedy satire, it is Dr. Strangelove. It pokes fun at nuclear holocaust, the end of the world, Russians and Americans being enemies for stupid reasons, America's arrogance and aggression, the arms race, and just about everything else that was politically important at the time of its release.
The film uses slapstick, parody, satire, irony, sarcasm, and wry humor to tell its tale of how an unauthorized nuclear strike is activated by General Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden) and the reactions from everyone else and their efforts to try and stop it.
Peter Sellers has a triple role: one as President Muffley of the United States, one as Captain Mandrake, the only person standing between Ripper and his plan to nuke Russia, and Dr. Strangelove, a sinister weel-chair bound strategist whose right hand has a mind of its own, breaking into Nazi salutes and trying to choke him. Strangelove makes for most of the slapstick farce in the film, but then again, his slapstick isn't Jim Carrey slapstick. Director Stanely Kubrick is too smart to let that happen, he never lets his film stray too far away from satirical humor.
The film takes place on four principle locations: an office, the War Room, the inside of a B-52 bomber, and an Air Force base and its surrounding areas.
But Sellers, though he is the funniest person in the film, isn't the only actor striking up hilarity. George C. Scott as the commie-hating Buck Turgidson, going into manic speeches and shouts that made me crack up.
Sterling Hayden as the even more commie-hating General Ripper ("the commies greatest weapon is flouride") is absurdly "patriotic." But that's what's so funny about him: he thinks that he's doing the right thing by nuking this country, but the audience all knows that he is totally wrong.
There are a few war scenes, shot with glorious handheld cameras. I would call it standard war movie fare during these scenes, but the fact taht these scenes (like the rest of the film) are in black in white just enhances the effect.
The only scenes that didn't entertain me that much were the Slim Pickens scenes in which the interior of the B-52 bomber getting ready to bomb Russia are shown. But then again, I did respect those scenes as parodying Americans' over-patriotism.
Dr. Strangelove ends with Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" being sung as nukes explode all over Russia. It is a brilliant ending to a brilliant film, one that will go down in my books as quite possibly the best satire ever made. |
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